Please keep in mind that this and all the studies contained within this website are my own personal studies, they do not necessarily represent my Church's views or my Pastors'... Be blessed!
Judgment, Judging others... Who died and left you boss? (A Study by Richard P. Duffield)
When I think about the way we as Christians
judge others, what comes to my mind is the popular expression,
"Who died and left you boss?" Tell me, isn't that what
we assume, or better yet presume when we attempt to judge
others?
Well, answer the question Who died? I think having posed that question, it would only be right for me to dig into the Holy Scriptures and see what God has to say about the subject.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matthew 7:1 - 5
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:37 - 38
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man. John 5:22,23 &26,27
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." John 9:39
He (Jesus of Nazareth) commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One whom God appointed as Judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name (Jesus)." Acts 10:42, 43
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man (Jesus the Christ) He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead." Acts 17:30, 31
This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. Romans 2:16
You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: "As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God." So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Romans 14:10 – 13
My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. 1 Corinthians 4:4, 5
Yeah I know, a lot of scripture! Please read every verse, it's the foundation I intend to build upon! Trust me, you'll see
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:1 and 4:8
For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:30, 31
to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, Hebrews 12:23
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One (Jesus) who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12
But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. 1 Peter 4:5, 6
"See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 14, 15
They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? Revelations 6:10
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. Revelations 18:8
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. Revelations 19:11
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Revelations 20:12, 13
There are many, many more such scriptures in the New Testament alone, not to mention the Old but I've gleaned from them the most poignant ones, the ones I feel best convey my message and left out others. Every word of scripture is important but in order to keep this smaller I intentionally left out some! Please do your own study and look them up in their entirety to get the full impact of what God through me is trying to say. It's quite likely that if you read them all you might feel I left out an important one, if such be the case forgive me but I feel the ones listed above will serve the purpose of opening our eyes to what the truth of God reveals.
Wait a minute, (getting back to the issue
at hand) in all this scripture, I haven't found even one of
our names! It looks to me that we are not ready to judge anyone
in the present state we find ourselves!
Don't you agree that the scripture above reveals to us that truth?
Could it be that we've been wrong to judge others? Well, if I
read the above scriptures properly, they reveal that when we do
judge we are in fact assuming the position of the Judge Himself!
Jesus is that Judge; at least that's what I've determined by the above scriptures! What right do you or I have to try to assume His position? None!
To be fair, I did find some scriptures where
we are mentioned, allow me to list them below:
If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before
the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do
you not know that the saints will judge the world? (Prophetic!)
And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge
trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels?
(Prophecy!) How much more the things of this life! 1 Corinthians 6:1 – 3
Please do keep in mind he (Paul) was speaking
here about civil court issues, about things like lawsuits going
on between brothers in Christ. The Bible did mention that we would
at some time in the future become judges much like the position
we now cherish so much that is in fact not ours to assume! This
future event when we'll be judging would by all reasonable deductions
be at the time when we return with Jesus and "rule and reign"
with Him during the millennium reign of Christ.
(I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority
to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of
God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not
received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They
came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. . Revelations 20:4)
Where exactly am I going with this? I have
to go wherever it takes us, first and foremost to relieve the
burden I have due to the fact that I am guilty as sin on this
judgment issue!
It cost Jesus nothing less than His sinless life to gain the privilege
of being our Judge, but with our judgmental selves we so easily
circumvent His position and judge our brothers as if we had the
right to do so!
I am guilty! It actually sickens me at times when I sense the
judgmental nature that so easily surfaces within me all
too often! What about you? Am I writing to the wrong crowd? Please forgive me if so!
Yes, I know you are the right crowd because
I can tell that you're alive and breathing! You may not be too
judgmental, or maybe a lot, maybe you hardly judge at all, but
the fact is that somewhere, in some form or fashion you too join
in this humanistic ritual.
From where does this ungodly trait originate? Let's look back
to Isaiah Chapter 14, verses 12 14:
How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the
dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid
low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will
ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars
of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend
above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the
Most High."
Can you see within these verses the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life?
Well, how about one more that interlocks with the above mentioned
sins? How about the judgmental spirit that would say something
like, "What makes Him so special that He can sit above
others and not me?" or "If I were in charge I'd
not be so soft, so gentle, I'd know how to rule like a true leader."
Or just possibly, "It's obvious that I'm preeminent around
here, I'm the most beautiful, I'm the wittiest, I'm in the best
position, the most talented, God surely can't see the obvious,
He should be sharing His throne with me, surely I could do it
better! After all most of these other angels are such losers "
Lucifer surely sat back and got judgmental with God! He probably
first began judging the looks and talents of others, probably
followed by being critical and judgmental of leadership, in the
end he looked at God with contempt and even judged Him! Have you
ever looked at another's looks, their weight, their clothes, maybe
became critical of their talents or position? Ever questioned
leadership? Judged a Pastor? Can you see where it came from? Can
you see that it originated with the father of sin himself? (John
8:44!) Surely it was driven by the three sins I listed above
and that John mentioned in 1 John 2:16: "For all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world."
But isn't it quite possible or even highly likely that our
judgmental attitudes originate from our sinful or fleshly human
nature? I would have to argue that the Word substantiates that
it's a habit that Lucifer passed on to Adam who passed it down
to us!
(Well thanks a lot great, great, great, great, great grand-pappy
Adam)
Keep in mind that I'm not trying to say that it is exclusively
from our old, sinful nature, after all if we've been "born
again" we've put off our old self. "Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new. "
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
What I'm saying is that this behavior is from our flesh nature.
(Basically I mean that we've done it for so long, it was in
fact our very nature, when we're born again, we're made new but
"old habits are hard to die!") However, like with
any habit, with determination and discipline, and of course being
empowered by the Holy Spirit of the Most High we can have victory
over it! (More on that later)
Hey, keep in mind that judging isn't always done in a belittling
way. Sometimes we judge someone favorably because of the clothes
they wear or cars they drive, or because of the position they
occupy in church! The Apostle James had specific directions regarding
this matter, "My brothers, as believers in our glorious
Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a
man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes,
and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special
attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's
a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You
stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet,"
have you not discriminated among yourselves and become
judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1 4) Have
you ever shown favoritism? I have, I'm sorry Lord, forgive
me please!
No matter if favorable or detrimental, it is not from God
and therefore has to be done away with!
It is not our right, not our position, not our job to judge others like we do!
Having said that, please understand that there
are cases where we might be in a position where we could and should
judge an issue, a specific behavior, what have you. It is exactly
in these cases that we must not judge according to our
understanding, not according to our emotions, not according to
what seems to be right or wrong, me must judge by what
God has already revealed to us about the issue in His Holy Word!
Can you see that if we are judging according to His Word, it really
is not us judging at all, but Him through us! YES, that's
how it should be! That's how it must be!
Answer me this, how can we ever, even in one single case, judge
an issue perfectly? Never! We never know all the issues! We
only see in part, we cannot know all the facts; we make our
judgments with insufficient resources, inadequate information!
With the inadequate information we consistently use to judge others,
if it were a court of law they'd be acquitted every time for lack
of evidence! Even evil judges could see through our poorly prepared
cases! Follow this line of thought through to the next section,
you'll get it soon enough! "Now we see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Cor.13: 12)
Here's an example of what I mean, while working
aboard my ship in Mexico I encountered a grumbling, trouble making
sailor who did nothing but sow discord amongst the crew. (Notice,
I'm judging here) He particularly did not agree that the officer's
lounge be solely for officers and had problems limiting his use
of the ships telephone during his time aboard. At times he'd tie
up the phone line for over an hour during his working hours despite
my warning him that calls should be limited to 20 minutes or less
during work hours as this is a work phone used by the company
that rents our vessel I wrote a few letters about him to personnel,
I sent him off my vessel twice, recently I was made aware that
he was now working as mate on a small utility boat our company
has. I had judged him previously, harshly at that, and felt it
wrong that he received a promotion when to me he wasn't even good
at his old job. Well, talking about him to other captains I found
no one else who'd had any problems with him. I figured that maybe
they simply weren't paying as close attention to him (at this
juncture judging the other captains) or maybe they didn't
have any discipline on their vessels Later while talking to a
seaman aboard my vessel I was told that this guy had been working
as seaman because the company simply hadn't given him the position
his license permitted. I found out that he was in fact a mate
and had been one for some years, having worked on ocean-going
ships and everything but that because he needed a job, he had
accepted this job as ordinary seaman. To top things off it turns
out he took the job because his young daughter has serious health
problems and needs constant medical attention. Obviously he was
frustrated that his money barely paid the doctor bills, (and
probably didn't even do that) that this vessel almost never
goes into port and with a 90 day contract the only way he could
keep in touch with his home was in fact via ship's telephone.
To make matters worse after hearing this, when I spoke to the
same other captains, they said they thought I knew he had a mate's
license and that they had always offered him the courtesy afforded
an officer even if he was not signed on as one. This guy is a
proud Mexican man who didn't feel it necessary to explain any
of this (his personal problems) to me and never gave me
any indication that there was a "method to his madness".
What do you think the Holy Spirit did to me after my "thinker"
caught up to where my "feeler" should have been but
wasn't? Of course he is the reason this paper is being written!
(Couldn't you tell?) It reminds me of the single man on
the airplane with the young "spoiled brat" that keeps
making noise, running up and down the aisles, disturbing everybody
while the father couldn't be bothered until one outspoken passenger
"has enough" and rebukes the father. The father then
looks at the passenger and fighting off large tears that are welling
up in his eyes while explaining the tragic and sudden death of
the child's mother just days before and his apparent inability
to discipline his only daughter as a result thereof. The child
by his explanation is acting completely out of her usual well
comported self trying to deal with the terrible loss in her own
way. Obviously this very "outspoken" passenger then
has a change of heart as does everyone else who only moments before
were ready to "lynch" the father and they all begin
reaching out to the little girl with understanding and compassion
instead of aggravation and anger. Miraculously stuffed toys and
willing ears and laps suddenly became available as if there was
no end. What a complete and absolute change the addition of a
few critical facts can bring to our weighty cases of judgment!
Just goes to show us that we do not know the whole story! Seldom
do we ever know the whole story even when it is directly pertaining
to us (there are chemical imbalances, physical problems, spiritual
oppressions that cause us to act strangely at times) much
less to others! We have absolutely no chance to fairly
and properly judge another, we'd just as soon flip a coin, and
our chances of reaching a just verdict would be better! We do
not know all the facts! Never will, until we are raised in incorruption
as the Bible promises! "I declare to you, brothers, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the
perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet
will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will
be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality." (1 Corinthians
15:50 53) Furthermore in John's first epistle we see the
following: "Dear friends, now we are children of God,
and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that
when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as
He is. " (1 John 3:2) I'm sure we should never,
while in these bodies, pretend to be able to judge anyone,
not even ourselves, unless by the letter of God's Word! By judging
according to God's word only we actually take ourselves out of it! While on earth, while in a man's body, even Jesus was limited to the things He actually knew and could do! He only knew and could do what the Father revealed and why could it, should it be different for us?
If we simply must judge someone, we should judge ourselves! (Even then we must
tread easily, it was Jesus who died on our behalf and thus gained
the right to be the only True Judge!) James 4:12 see above
No, we must look at judgment and see it for what it is, Sin!
It's Sin and nothing less when we do it apart from God's word and more importantly, God's will!
In writing this paper I intend to declare for
all to see and hear that judging and judgment is sin when we do
it of ourselves! As I said previously, there are times when we
will have to judge something on behalf of our Lord (examples
above mentioned) and at those times it is our duty to judge
according to God's written word and His word only! Our input is
not necessary, not needed, and must be left out of it!
Pastors sit in a position where they are forced to judge and often
at that, but the judgment is in fact Jesus' through them! However,
even being a Pastor, God's spokesman to a local body, doesn't
change the fact that they are men (or women) sown in corruptible
bodies (Probably why James tells us that the judgment of teachers
will be stricter! James 3:1)
No one is exempt from the need to stop judging! We have no
right to judge as I said before, we didn't create anything,
we didn't die for anything, and we're certainly not God!
When we judge, it is nothing less than usurping Jesus' position
as Judge and as such its sin!
I'm not sure that we'll ever completely stop judging while in
these corrupted bodies of flesh but I am sure that we can better
limit the judging we do by understanding how sinful it is. Why
might I say that? Think about it, when someone cuts us off while
driving, what thought goes through our minds first? (You idiot,
learn to drive! Or maybe something less harsh, or much worse!)
but never the less we judge them immediately, without
hesitation! What about that spoiled rotten child at the
checkout counter at Publix? (If you knew how to discipline
your child lady Possibly even something spiritual like, "spare
the rod, spoil the child") Judging! Like the airplane,
you don't know the details but you're sure quick to judge! Or
just possibly the man in the street with the "will work for
food" sign Need I say more? It's just our nature, even
if we don't verbalize it!
What can we do to minimize the amount of judgment we bring
upon ourselves due to our judging?
We need to start noting every time we judge either by word
or thought and confess it, repent of it and for heaven's sake
not speak it out to brothers and sisters! If we can at least stop
the speaking out of a judgmental thought, quite possibly, even
probably we can gain ground in this area. And do not be deceived,
if we are not actively fighting this malady, gaining ground, we
are in fact losing ground to it once we know and understand the
truth! Another trick here might be stay away from people that
naturally tend to lead you to judgmental conversations. Be aware,
the spirit of judgment seeks out kindred spirits in others and
seeks to fellowship with them! Look at your life, I'm sure you'll
find certain people who simply "bring out the worse in you",
people who facilitate the judging of others with you. One huge
step you can take on the road to being less judgmental is to do
away with such friendships! Lay ground rules with these people
and if they cannot or will not follow them, cut off the fellowship!
Remember that evil loves company! It only takes one to break the
vicious circle! Think about it! Do we, sinners saved by grace,
need to heap more judgment upon ourselves by judging others? I
think not! We cannot afford to! We have to determine in our
minds and execute discipline upon our wills and start now
to stop judging others! The Apostle Paul summed up our first line
of action in his words: "Therefore I do not run like a
man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating
the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave (1 Cor.
9:26, 27) and "We demolish arguments and every
pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and
we take captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5,6) We must do
likewise! If we want results, we must determine thus in
our minds first, and then stubbornly refuse to quit until
we achieve our objective! That's it! Not the easiest thing
to do but it can and must be done!
I'm sure that the best place to end this study is where we began,
by asking the question, "Who died and left you boss?"
Let's quickly return to the first scriptures we went over to bring
this all into perspective in closing Remember, God repeated
Himself here for a reason! It must be important!
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in
the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with
the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you
look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay
no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say
to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when
all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matthew
7:1 - 5
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do
not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will
be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure,
pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured
into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you." Luke 6:37 - 38
6:37 - 38
Jesus died, and He did not leave you boss! It's Jesus'
job, not yours! Stop judging! Stop now, while there's still time....
If you enjoyed this study, if you have comments, criticisms, or anything else to say please feel free to let me know! I hope you enjoyed and that this study helped you even as it did me!
Feel free to copy or reproduce this text as the Lord leads you!
Be blessed of our precious Lord Jesus Christ,
Your servant in Him,
Richard P. Duffield Jr.